Canadians Lost $4.2B Due to Wait Times

The Fraser Institute's report indicates that approximately 1.4 million Canadians were waiting for medical treatment in 2025. The average loss per patient amounted to $3,043 in lost wages and productivity during working hours. The study considered the median wait time of 13.3 weeks between a specialist appointment and treatment. However, this figure doesn't account for the 15.3-week wait to see a specialist after a family doctor's referral or time spent waiting for diagnostic tests, suggesting the actual economic impact is likely higher. The total median wait time for medical treatment in Canada reached 28.6 weeks in 2025, the second-longest in the survey's history. Wait times varied significantly across provinces, with New Brunswick experiencing the highest average loss in productivity at $4,864 per patient. Ontario, in contrast, had the shortest median wait time at 19.2 weeks. This issue isn't new; wait times have been increasing since the Fraser Institute began tracking them in 1993. The 2025 median wait time is 208% longer than it was in 1993, when it was just 9.3 weeks.